Happy Birthday Mom!

Since my mom lives in Rome now it wasn't really feasible for us to mail her a gift. So all of my siblings, their spouses and us got together and made my mom a little video. My brother had the idea to copy the intro to The Office where they lipsync a song. We had a really good time doing it...and we look pretty silly. Here's a link to the video (it doesn't work on cell phones FYI).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5VeS9lLvf4&feature=youtu.be

Thank you for being my best friend, for loving me, for giving me great guidance and counsel and always being there for me. Thank you for being such a great example to me and teaching me to rely on the Lord. I appreciate that you and dad were such great examples of reading your scriptures and saying prayers together as a couple. Ever since I can remember, I woke up to you and Dad sitting in your bed reading scriptures together. Thank you for teaching me the importance of that. Thank you for being my mom...you're pretty awesome. I miss you a lot, but I appreciate your attitude in serving the Lord, you are where you are supposed to be. The people of Rome need you for now...then we'll get you back :)

Love you Mom, hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

missionary work

My parents are loving being on the Rome Temple Site. My dad walks around all day and talks to all the different workers. Many of them have questions about what they are building, which would be expected with such a huge project. My parents have had the opportunity to talk with many of the workers about the gospel. One in particular, Pietro, has taken a special interest in the church.

The first Sunday we were in Rome happened to also be the first Sunday Pietro agreed to go to church. The members there were SO welcoming and kind to Pietro. The second Sunday he came a member gave Pietro his suit coat jacket because he felt Pietro could use it. Talk about generous. The Bishop invited Pietro to play soccer with him during the week and another member invited him over for a visit.

Pietro had his first lesson when we were in Rome and we could tell he loved it! Pietro makes a point to talk to my dad nearly every day, he is a very caring person.

 Elders with Pietro, my parents neighbors (Norma & Daniele) and my dad

After about a month and a half of lessons, Pietro is getting baptized!! Isn't that exciting? Tomorrow (Saturday) is his baptism and he asked my dad to baptize him. My parents are so excited for this weekend and I'm so happy for them. It was a pleasure to meet Pietro and see the beginning of his conversion.

Keep up the missionary work Mom & Dad!! LOVE YOU!

Day 12: Tivoli (part 2)

After seeing Villa d'Este we weren't quite ready to leave the town. We followed signs for a place called Parco Villa Gregoriana. We had no idea what to expect, we just followed a "tourist sign" for the place. When we got there we were intrigued, it was some sort of nature park with waterfalls and old archeological sites. It was a very unique site, I didn't expect any of what we saw. It ended up being a little day hike, we felt like we were in the jungle. Who ever expected Italy to have huge waterfalls and tropical looking plants. It was gorgeous.

We finished off a wonderful day with dinner at Ramon & Lorena's. Logan & Ramon played the guitar while we ate dessert and their little boys loved it. Such a great day.

As for blog posts...that was the end of our trip. We still had about 2 1/2 more days but we didn't take a ton of pictures. We went shopping, went downtown one more time, did some laundry and packing. We feel so blessed to have been able to go on this trip. We are so grateful for the service my parents are providing and the sacrifice they are making. We are humbled by the warmth and kindness of everyone we met. Thank you mom & dad for taking such good care of us and showing us a fabulous day. 

This truly was a trip of a lifetime.

Day 12: Tivoli (part 1)

Tivoli is an absolutely gorgeous town about 30 minutes outside of Rome with SO much to see. I had read about Villa d'Este, in Tivoli, on some travel site and saw it on none other than the Lizzie McGuire Movie ;). This was on my list of things to see from the beginning of planning our trip. And we were not disappointed one bit. Even though it was raining we still wanted to go and it ended up being less crowded and free of charge, lucky us!

Villa d'Este is a huge mansion with unbelievable gardens and fountains. It was built in the 1500's I believe and still has all the original fountains, none of which are powered, all use gravity to shoot up water. It was truly incredible to see this place and unreal that the fountains weren't powered by anything. It was an incredible site to see.

Day 11: Napolitana Pizza & farmer's market

My dad wanted to find us the most authentic Italian pizza in Rome (Rome isn't really known for their pizza, but Napoli is). He talked to some Italian's on the temple site and found out where we could get Napolitana pizza in Rome. I can't remember the name of the restaurant but we had a wonderful evening there. Michele, from the temple site, eats at this restaurant a couple times a week with his wife so he wanted to meet us there for dinner. Before we came he had told the owner that some American's would be coming in and they can't wait to have real pizza. So when we got there my dad started talking to our server, who happened to be the owner, and told him we were from America. The owner got all excited "ohh the American's, yes yes!" Thank goodness my dad speaks Italian, we were way out of the city where no one speaks a bit of English. 

Next thing we know we have drinks, an appetizer and our pizza was in the brick oven. The appetizer was so delicious, it was kindof like a scone (fry bread) with a little marinara sauce and some fresh grated parmesan cheese. Logan LOVED it.

While we were finishing those up Michele and his wife showed up and pulled a table up right next to ours. It was clear they went there a lot because the owner and his wife came up to them and kissed and hugged them. The atmosphere of the restaurant was so great, it felt like everyone was family. Awhile later our pizzas came out and boy oh boy they were amazing. If you like Italian style pizza, this was the ultimate and the best I've ever had. I was in heaven.

We stayed for nearly 3 hours just enjoying the authentic feel of the restaurant and all the people there. Italians, well everyone besides the US really, eat dinner much later than we do so we didn't get out of there til 9:30 or later and we got there at 6:45. Before we left the owner and his wife came over to see how we liked it. The wife spoke a little English and was beyond jealous that we were from California. She said if we gave her a room to stay in she'd cook all day for us, I think that's a fair trade :). Michele and his wife invited us over to their house afterward so we got home pretty late. But this ended up being one of our favorite nights, we got a true taste of Italian life.

Back tracking...earlier in the day we went to the farmer's market. There is nothing even close to this in America, it was so fun. You walk into a huge warehouse type thing and right at the front are about 15 different produce stands. Each one selling almost the same produce with competing prices. Each stand has fresh fruits & vegetables picked that morning. I couldn't believe the size of all the produce and some things I've never seen before.

It may not look big, but seriously this bell pepper was huugggeee!

Then we walked a little farther and there were all kinds of different stands. Some with every nut you can imagine, some with all kinds of mushrooms, all kinds of breads and so much more.

Then you get to the seafood section and boy can you smell it strong. I couldn't even go close I started gagging! Logan and my dad got up close to see it all- oysters, squid, octopus, giant tuna, shrimp, crab and almost any other kind of seafood you can think of.

I wish the US had something like this. It was quite an experience!

Day 10: Florence

We hopped on a bullet train early in the morning headed for Florence. I lived in Florence back in 2007 for a semester and I was so anxious to go back. Florence will always have a special place in my heart, it's such a gorgeous city. It is a large city but not anywhere as big as Rome so we were able to walk around the entire city in one day. The streets are much smaller and less crowded, there are very few cars in downtown Florence at all.

First on our agenda was to go to the top of the Duomo which meant a lot more stairs and a little more weak-in-the-knees feeling. We were so lucky when we got there, there wasn't a single person in line. When we came back down the line was half-way around the building. The morning was rainy & cloudy but by the time we got to the top of the duomo it had cleared up and was gorgeous.

 Logan took lots of pictures of me walking up the crazy stairs. Some of them we as steep as a ladder.

Next on our agenda was to see my old apartment and get some lunch at one of my favorite places, Mesopotamia Kebabs. On our way a nice old man was on the side of the street playing his violin, it added a little magic to the moment.

 After lunch we walked through a bunch of streets in downtown Florence and it really took me back to when I was there before, it was a little weird, but so fun! We headed down to the river to see the Ponte Vecchio, one of the most beautiful bridges in the world :)

We did a lot more walking around, ate gelato, saw many more churches and just had a wonderful day. This was for sure one of my favorite days on our trip. We had a great time. Here are some random pictures of Florence.

Florence, I love you.